Pakistani journalist shot, critically injured during riot

New York, November 28, 2011--Authorities in Karachi should
take stronger measures to protect reporters covering violent incidents, the
Committee to Protect Journalists said today after a journalist was critically
injured in crossfire on Sunday.

Ahsan Kohati, senior correspondent for the private Waqt
television station, was hit in the chest by a bullet while reporting at the
scene of rioting in the Numaish Chowrangi area of the city on Sunday, according
to Mazhar Abbas,
former secretary-general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, and
local news reports. Kohati is being treated in the intensive care unit at a
local hospital, Abbas told CPJ.

Three members of a banned militant group, who had taken part
in a protest against a Saturday attack by NATO helicopters on a military
checkpoint in Mohmand agency, sparked mob violence when they shot and killed
two Shia Muslim volunteers at a religious event, according to the news reports.
Kohati was injured when paramilitary forces fired on the rioters, local
newspaper The Nation reported.

"The government should make every effort to train its
military and paramilitary organizations in protocols which will minimize the
danger to journalists and other bystanders as civil strife escalates in
Pakistan," said Bob Dietz, CPJ Asia program coordinator. "We join Ahsan
Kohati's family, friends and colleagues in wishing him a quick and full
recovery. And while we wait for authorities in Karachi to investigate this
shooting, journalists' organizations and media houses should step up their
efforts at ensuring their staff have full protective gear and the necessary
safety training to cover Pakistan's increasing violence."

CPJ has repeatedly highlighted the dangers to journalists in
Pakistan as well as President Asif Ali Zardari's failure to combat an
entrenched culture
of impunity. November 23 was the International
Day to End Impunity. Seven journalists have been killed in Pakistan for their
work this year, and 41 since 1992. Only the 2002 murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel
Pearl has been investigated and prosecuted, according to CPJ research.

CPJ honored The News
reporter Umar Cheema with an International
Press Freedom Award in New York on November 22. "We have lost many
colleagues in a culture of impunity. Nevertheless there is no let-up in our
resilience," Cheema said
in accepting the award. The day after his recognition, his colleague Mohammad
Malick of The News received
anonymous threats in relation to his reporting on a political scandal.